Mieng-Kum

Last week we had a delicious and unusual starter at a Thai restaurant in Orlando. Liked it so much, that imaged to get the recipe and a picture.!
Ingredients:
100 gms tofu
2inch piece ginger , peeled and shredded to thin strips
Juice of half a lemon
Handful of peanuts
3 to 4 inch piece of dried coconut shredded into thin steps
12to14 cabbage leaves
 Procedure:
Fry tofu in hot oil till crisp and golden brown. Remove after draining all oil on soft tissue. On a chopping board, shred fried tofu into thin strips. In a bowl mix together diced tofu, diced ginger, coconut and peanuts. Add lemon juice and mix well. Quickly , arrange cabbage leaves on soup spoons or other similar serving device, as in the picture. With a spoon put the mixture from the bowl on each cabbage leaf, as shown in the pic and serve fresh with caramelized dipping sauce or any sweet and slightly tangy sauce. And you have a delicious, very light starter which both vegetarians and non vegetarians would love.

Guacamole

I am in the US spending time with my children and realise that most people here love avacadoes . Yesterday, my daughter in law Natalie made Guacamole to serve as a starter to guests at a Bar -be-cue party. It tasted great with Tortilla chips and veggie sticks. Here's here recipe;


Ingredients:
3 avacadoes
1 medium sized tomato finely chopped
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
2 green chillies
3- 4 cloves of garlic
one small bowl of coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tsp cummin powder
Juice of one lemon
salt to taste

Procedure:
Peel the avacadoes and slit into halves. Apply juice of half a lemon and keep aside .

In a mortar  and pestle, pound onion, tomato, green chillies , coriander and garlic to a pulp. Add avacadoes, cummin powder, salt and the remaining lemon juice and  pound to make a homogeneous pulp. Empty the contents into an attractive glass serving bowl and keep in a cool place for an hour. When guests arrive, serve with tortilla chips, plan khakhra or veggie sticks.

Chilli Cheese Toast

The Rains have finally arrived in Mumbai and with it the desire to have tasty hot snacks with a hot cup of tea.  Chilli Cheese Toast is an all time favourite with most people and especially with vegetarians.  Here’s my recipe for which I am sure you will relish.

Ingredients

Grated cheese 200 gms

1 red or green finely chopped

1 green chilli finely chopped

1 large tomato finely chopped

4 slices of oatmeal or whole wheat bread

Procedure

Mix together the cheese, capsicum, chilli and tomato and refrigerate for five minutes.  Toast the bread slices  then spread the cheese paste evenly over the slices.  Bake in pre-heated oven for three to five minutes till the top layer is well cooked and the bread nicely toasted.  Cut each slice diagonally into two triangles and serve hot with ketchup and potato chips.  

Chingri Malai Curry

My friend Amrita today served us a delicious prawn recipes, which was loved by all of us and so we all got share it immediately with us and here’s for your to try it out on the weekend.

Ingredients

400 gm prawns 

2-3 potatoes

3 tbsp mustard oil

1/2 tbsp whole jeera

2 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

2 tsp jeera powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp garam masala

1 1/4 cup coconut milk

2 tsp ghee  

Procedure: 

Blanch the prawns in turmeric water. 

Heat mustard oil in a pan and add sugar and whole jeera ; then add prawns and stir fry till white ( Prawns have to be white and soft). Keep prawns aside. 

Heat mustard oil in a pan and add sugar and whole jeera add chopped potatoes, ginger paste, jeera powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and sauté

Now add the prawns and slit green chillies and stir for few minutes. 

Add the coconut milk, cook for few more minutes and then add salt. 

In the end sprinkle garam masala and ghee on top and serve.

Serve with hot roti with pav / garlic bread

Salad Dressing!

It’s been quite a few days since I wrote last! A combination of work pressure, travel and inability to get some time to myself have all been in a way the reasons for not penning my thoughts.

All of us who were eagerly awaiting the rains in Mumbai over the past two weeks  have been greatly disappointed that we are still seeing bright , hot and humid sunny days. All of this makes us want to have chilled drinks and light meals and what better starter or in- between meals snack than an interesting, tasty and  healthy bowl of fresh salad..... and what better way to make a salad interesting than having a cool, yummy dressing!

Here are a couple....

Cucumber and Dill

Ingredients:

1 cup grated cucumber

1 cup regular yoghurt

1/4 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp fresh dill finely chopped

1 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

Procedure:

Drain the grated cucumber thoroughly, In a bowl blend yoghurt, add cucumber and all other ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate  for a while . Serve with crispy salad of iceberg lettuce, spinach and salad leaves, croutons etc.

Caeser Salad Dressing:

Ingredients

½ cup or katori grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tbps chopped parsley

2- 3 cloves garlic

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth, Season with additional sal and pepper if required. Serve with any salad you dish up.

Appams with Mutton Stew

A hearty aromatic mutton and potato broth with the subtle sweetness of coconut milk.  Served with fluffy appams

Ingredients

For Appams

• 350 gm rice, soaked for six to eight hours
• 75 gm boiled rice
• 150 ml coconut water
• 75 ml coconut milk
• Water as required
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ¼ tsp soda bicarb
• Oil as needed

For Mutton Stew

• 5 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• 4 green cardamoms
• 6 - 8 black peppercorns crushed
• 2 onions, cubed
• 2 tsp ginger juliennes
• 3 green chillies slit
• 10 - 12 curry leaves
• 500 gm boneless mutton, cubed and boiled until half done
• 2 potatoes cubed
• 750 ml thick coconut milk

Procedure
To prepare Appams, blend the two types of rice with coconut water and coconut milk to get a smooth paste, adding water if required.  Stir in salt and sugar and set aside for eight hours in a warm place. Mix in soda bicarb and a little water to get a creamy consistency.

Heat an appam chatty and brush with oil.  Add a ladle of batter to the pan, and tilt around to spread evenly.  Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat for 2 – 3 minutes.  The edges should be crisp and the centre spongy.  Make more Appams with the batter.  To make the stew heat coconut oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms.  Sauté for a few seconds. Add onion, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and cook until onions are soft.  Add the mutton, potato, thin coconut milk and salt and cook until mutton and potatoes are done.  Remove from heat and add thick coconut milk and black peppercorns.  Stir well.  Serve hot with Appam.

Spinach & Dal Parathas

Last night for dinner, one of the dishes we had was Moong Dal with Spinach.  Since there was fair bit of leftover dal, I decided to use it in an interesting and different way by making Parathas and served them with Dahi and Papad as good breakfast.  Here's what I did...

Ingredients
1 small onion finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp ajwain
1 tsp oil for the dough
Few tsps for frying
Salt to taste

Procedure
Put dal in a bowl.  Add all the ingredients, oil and enough wheat flour to make a soft dough for rotis.  Make balls of 1 to 2 inch sized diameter and roll-out like rotis.  Cook on hot tava on medium flame till both sides are done.  Fry with a little oil on both sides till the Paratha has uniform brown spots and is well cooked. 
Serve hot with pickle, papad, dahi or egg bhurji.